Astana is hosting a crowded diplomatic week, and the guest list says a lot about where Central Asia is looking.
Astana is hosting a crowded diplomatic week, and the guest list says a lot about where Central Asia is looking.
Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks with Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Thursday, and the two men exchanged high state honours: Tokayev gave the king the Al-Farabi order, and Abdullah gave Tokayev the al-Hussain ibn Ali order.
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon also arrived in Astana on an official visit, welcomed at the airport by Tokayev himself. Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdimuhamedov landed too, and Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev flew in for a working visit.
They are all in town for the Aqaba Process summit on November 5-6, a security coordination format launched by Jordan's king in 2015 that brings Central Asian leaders together with Middle Eastern partners on counterterrorism and extremism.
For Kazakhstan, hosting the week is the point: Astana is positioning itself as the place where Central Asia and the Middle East sit at the same table.
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